Educational Science

Fault lines: Facts about cracks in the Earth

Faults are fractures in Earth's crust where rocks on either side of the crack have slid past each other. Sometimes the cracks are tiny, as thin as hair, with barely noticeable movement between the rock layers. But faults can also be hundreds of miles long, such as the San Andreas...

Is Africa splitting into two continents?

A giant rift is slowly tearing Africa, the second-largest continent, apart. This depression — known as the East African Rift — is a network of valleys that stretches about 2,175 miles (3,500 kilometers) long, from the Red Sea to Mozambique, according to the Geological Society of London. So will Africa...

Holes spewing warm fluids from the boundary between tectonic plates have been discovered at the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Oregon. Researchers think this strange, never-before-seen phenomenon, dubbed Pythia's Oasis after an ancient Greek priestess, could provide insight into earthquake risk along the dangerous fault — although...

What's the highest a mountain can grow on Earth?

Sixty million years ago, when the Eurasian plate slammed into the Indian plate, a mountain range was born. Because these plates were of similar density, neither could sink below the other. The rocks had nowhere to go but up. Now, the Himalayas host Earth's tallest mountains. Mount Everest is the...

Never-before-seen 'crystal-like matter' hidden in a chunk of fossilized lightning is probably a brand new mineral

A potentially brand new mineral may have been hiding inside a chunk of fossilized lightning from Florida, scientists have revealed. We have never seen this material occur naturally on Earth, Mathew Pasek, a geoscientist at the University of South Florida, said in a statement. Minerals similar to it can be...

Why did the last ice age end?

Nearly 10,000 years ago, Earth came out of its most recent ice age. Vast, icy swaths of land around the poles thawed, melting the glaciers that had covered them for nearly 100,000 years. Why, after such a long period of cold, did the ice age finally come to an end?...

Scientists extract a kilometer of rock from Earth's mantle in record-breaking mission

For the first time, scientists have drilled into an underwater mountain to collect a record-breaking chunk of Earth's mantle — a core of rock that's more than 3,280 feet (1 kilometer) long. The stunning feat was achieved by drilling into Atlantis Massif, an underwater mountain located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge...

New mud-slinging thermal feature at Yellowstone is spewing scalding hot muck

A newly formed thermal feature has violently erupted into life in Yellowstone National Park, forcing park rangers to close off a section nearby after it showered the boardwalk with a blistering mixture of water, soil and sinter — mineral deposits that are precipitated from hot springs. And in a further...

Swirls of liquid iron may be trapped inside Earth's 'solid' core

Earth's solid inner core may not be solid after all — at least not all the way through. Instead, it’s a hodgepodge patchwork of solid and liquid that reaches all the way to the center. New research based on the faint echoes of earthquake waves bouncing back to Earth's surface...

Mt. Everest: Why Do People Keep Climbing It?

Each spring, amidst stories of successful firsts, come tales of overcrowding, fighting and tragedy on Mt. Everest, including last week’s avalanche that killed at least 13 Sherpas who were setting ropes on the mountain’s most popular climbing route. Nevertheless, hundreds of people from dozens of countries are at Base Camp...